Indeed, ranged DPS are gutted of their DPS and no one knows why.
Many thought it was related to mobility but SMN has 40% of its casts that are instant and not punished by mouvement. BLM also has crazy mobility if you use your abilities.

SQEX never said why, last time ranged were buffed was because replacing a ranged by another Black Mage would theorically deal a slight, veeeery slight amount of total DPS.

IMO, DPS truly matters in savage prog and content with PU.
Shiva is an excellent example, most players trying to get in are bad and I simply could not carry the DPS as a Machinist. For Shiva Unreal, it was much, much easier to play the content as a Samurai as I would deal much more damage despite barely playing the job in savage content. That's also a problem, you can have years of experience on a ranged job, you'll still do more rDPS on an equally geared Samurai you just started to learn.

Damage buffs for rangeds?
Why not, I kind of gave up when Yoshi-P stated he was satisfied with the current balance.
In my opinion, the whole ranged role needs a rework. The role simply exist for the 1% stats bonuses, the 120s mitigation and the silence. And sometimes baiting mechanics which happens rarely and can be done by any non-tank/non-melee.